The Zulu State

1. The Zulu State By Kayla Hayidakis Cornel O’Kelly

2. Political Revolution • The competition in southern Africa for resources and control over trade started in the 1810s and continued through until the 1830s • It increased during the 1820s and 1830s and as a result there was a increase of political conflict and change • By the 1830s the smaller chiefdoms had been conquered and the remaining people joined other chiefdoms to form large centralised African states • The main ones were the Zulu in the east

3. The East: the rise of the Zulu state • Before the defeat of the Mthethwa the Zulu had been a small chiefdom under their control • Dingiswayo the Mthethwa chief, had appointed Shaka ka Senzagkhona as the leader of the Zulu • He encouraged Shaka to use the Amabutho system and to increase his power as protection against the expansion of the Ndwandwe • When the Mthethwa were defeated and Dingiawayo killed by the Zwide, this left Shaka as a main opponent of the Ndwandwe • The Zwide launched a attack against the Zulu and captured many Zulu cattle • The Zulu decided to fight back in 1819 they attacked the Ndwandwe, destroyed Zwides capital and broke up his kingdom • Shaka used the amabutho system to expand his power and control by sending them on raids into neighbouring chiefdoms • Older versions of history claimed that these raids were bloodthirsty and violent, however historians now believe that this was not accurate, and that it was not just simple force and warfare that led to the rise of the Zulu

4. The consolidation of the Zulu kingdom • The Zulu state under Shaka certainly became more militarised. • Shaka also created the amabutho of young women and controlled marriages between them and the amabutho male soldiers • The Zulu society under Shaka consisted of three levels at the top was the King and a aristocracy (consisting of the Zulu royal family) and the leaders of the chiefdoms • The second level was the population of the central parts of the kingdom • At the bottom were the people of low status whom did daily tasks such as herding the cattle • Trade also helped the Zulu to become powerful • They traded ivory and cattle with the Portuguese in return for manufactured goods

5. The end of Shaka’s rule • However there were tensions and divisions within the Zulu kingdom, these became more apparent when the Ndwandwe had been defeated and the Zulu no longer feared a attack from them • Shaka became more ruthless against those who opposed him • After his mothers death in 1827 he had many of his opponents killed , as result of that the Zulu leaders plotted together to remove him from power • In 1828 he was assassinated in the orders of his half brothers • Dingane one of his half brothers took over the Zulu state